THE POTASSIUM-ARGON LASER EXPERIMENT (KARLE) IS A TARGETED INVESTIGATION THAT ENABLES IN SITU RADIOMETRIC DATING OF PLANETARY MATERIALS AS WELL AS MINERALOGICAL IDENTIFICATION AND COMPOSITIONAL MEASUREMENTS OF MAJOR AND MINOR ELEMENTS. THE KARLE INSTRUMENT SIMULTANEOUSLY MEASURES K (VIA LASER INDUCED BREAKDOWN SPECTROSCOPY OR LIBS) AND AR (VIA TRADITIONAL MASS SPECTROMETRY) TO PROVIDE AGE DETERMINATIONS WITH HIGH PRECISION AND ACCURACY REVEALING INSIGHTS INTO THE TIMING OF MAJOR LUNAR DIFFERENTIATION EVENTS BOMBARDMENT HISTORY AND ULTIMATELY THE CALIBRATION OF THE CRATER RECORD. ALL GEOCHEMICAL MEASUREMENTS INCLUDING K AND AR ANALYSES RELY ON LEGACY HARDWARE ELEMENTS PROVEN TO OPERATE ON MARS AND/OR OTHER PLANETARY ENVIRONMENTS INTERFACED THROUGH AN INNOVATIVE VACUUM CHAMBER AND SAMPLE DELIVERY SYSTEM. A BREADBOARD VERSION OF THE KARLE INVESTIGATION SUPPORTED THROUGH PIDDP FUNDING HAS VERIFIED FULL FUNCTIONALITY UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS. THROUGH THIS DALI EFFORT A HIGH FIDELITY ENGINEERING TEST UNIT (ETU) OF THE KARLE INSTRUMENT WILL BE DESIGNED TO MINIMIZE MASS VOLUME AND POWER RESOURCES SHOWN TO SATISFY ALL FUNCTIONAL/SCIENCE REQUIREMENTS AND QUALIFIED TO TRL 6 (SYSTEM-LEVEL DEMONSTRATION UNDER RELEVANT ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS) TO VALIDATE THE READINESS OF THIS DESIGN AS A FUTURE LUNAR LANDER PAYLOAD OPTION. THE INSTRUMENT WILL BE EXPOSED TO VACUUM PRESSURES THERMAL CYCLING AND REPRESENTATIVE RANDOM VIBRATION LOADS; THE ANALYTICAL PERFORMANCE OF KARLE WILL BE TESTED BEFORE AND AFTER EACH TEST TO ENSURE TECHNOLOGY MATURATION IN FULL COMPLIANCE WITH TRL ADVANCEMENT. A SERIES OF NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC ANALOG SAMPLES WILL BE PREPARED TO QUANTITATIVELY CHARACTERIZE THE CAPABILITIES OF THE INSTRUMENT INCLUDING: ESTABLISHING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN INSTRUMENT RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS (E.G. POWER ENERGY DATA VOLUME) AND ACHIEVABLE PRECISION/ACCURACY ON AGE DETERMINATIONS; RECOGNIZING DIAGNOSTIC INDICATORS OF HOST MINERALOGY; AND IDENTIFYING LIMITS OF DETECTION FOR MAJOR AND MINOR ELEMENTS. AS A PARTNER INSTITUTION THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND WILL SERVE AN ESSENTIAL SUPPORT ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT DEMONSTRATION AND QUALIFICATION OF THE KARLE ETU. GRADUATE STUDENT ZIQIN ( GRACE ) NI WILL PARTICIPATE AS BOTH AN INSTRUMENT SCIENTIST AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING SUPPORT. SPECIFICALLY GRACE WILL PROVIDE GROUND-TRUTH MEASUREMENTS OF A SERIES OF ROUND ROBIN SAMPLES THAT WILL BE ANALYZED VIA STATE-OF-THE-ART COMMERCIAL INSTRUMENTATION (SEE FACILITIES SECTION FOR DETAILS) AS WELL AS THE KARLE PROTOTYPE BREADBOARD AT NASA GSFC AND THE HIGH-FIDELITY ETU THAT WILL BE GENERATED THROUGH THIS DALI EFFORT. SHE WILL ALSO CONTRIBUTE TO MECHANICAL DESIGN REVIEWS SCIENCE TEAM MEETINGS AND INTEGRATION AND TEST OF THE KARLE SAMPLE CHAMBER WHEN READY. CO-I RICARDO AREVALO JR. WILL ALSO SUPPORT THESE SPECIFIC TASKS BUT HIS PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES WILL BE TO ADVISE/MENTOR GRACE NI AS AN EARLY CAREER SCIENTIST/ENGINEER SUPPORT GROUND-TRUTH MEASUREMENTS AND PARTICIPATE IN SCIENCE TEAM MEETINGS AND RESPOND THE EVOLVING PRIORITIES OF THE LUNAR COMMUNITY (FOR EXAMPLE AS CAPTURED BY THE LUNAR EXPLORATION ASSESSMENT GROUP LEAG).